Videogames and Isolation the Galapagos Effect on the Videogame Market
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Single Cycle Degree programme in Lingue culture e società dell’Asia e dell’Africa mediterranea (LICAAM) ordinamento ex DM 270/2004 Final Thesis Videogames and isolation The Galapagos effect on the videogame market Supervisor Ch. Prof. Patrick Heinrich Assistant supervisor Ch. Prof. Pierantonio Zanotti Graduand Luca D’Angelo Matriculation Number 855677 Academic Year 2017 / 2018 Index Index..................................................................................................................................................... 3 要旨 ...................................................................................................................................................... 4 Introduction .......................................................................................................................................... 6 CHAPTER 1: The world of gaming..................................................................................................... 8 1.1 Origin ......................................................................................................................................... 8 1.2 Golden Age of West and East ................................................................................................... 11 1.3 Old “console wars” ................................................................................................................. 17 1.4 The 1990s ................................................................................................................................. 20 1.5 The XXI century ....................................................................................................................... 23 1.6 PC and mobile gaming ............................................................................................................. 25 CHAPTER 2: Garapagosu-ka ........................................................................................................... 32 2.1 Definition and examples........................................................................................................... 33 2.2 Japan and video games: a brief account ................................................................................. 40 2.3 Videogames’ Galapagos-ization ............................................................................................... 42 CHAPTER 3: Practical research ........................................................................................................ 52 3.1 Surveys on players ................................................................................................................... 52 3.2 Case study: Square Enix .......................................................................................................... 55 3.3 Case study: Nintendo ............................................................................................................... 60 3.4 Making the difference .............................................................................................................. 70 Conclusions ........................................................................................................................................ 75 Sources ............................................................................................................................................... 80 Bibliography....................................................................................................................................... 87 Sites .................................................................................................................................................... 88 Companies Sales reports .................................................................................................................... 89 Glossary ............................................................................................................................................. 90 Games mentioned ............................................................................................................................... 93 Abbreviations ..................................................................................................................................... 98 1 要旨 世界から切り離した日本文化は、主に島国だということの結果でも1633年徳川家光 によって決めた法律の結果でもある。それは外国人の到着も日本人の出発を禁止した「鎖 国」として知られている。1853年にマシュー・ペリーが上陸したまで、商業は長崎港しか 許さなくてドイツ人・中国人との商業のみに限られていた。今頃の21世紀の日本はその鎖 国より違い国になった。世界中の最強国のあいだに位置しているこの日本は、ジャーナリ ストの意見にとってグローバル化を追ってみている一方特にその市場はまだ「鎖国」の影 響を受けているようである。三菱グループの車、ソニーの家庭用電気器具、妙で唯一なガ ジェット、などのようなグーズは海外にも会えることが確かだが、その裏にもその中こそ は日本だけに有名になった山ほどの商品がある。本物の現象は ICT (Information and Communication Technology)にも認められている。 この ICT によって「グローバル市場との親和性に乏しく」さと定義された状況は、 ガラパゴス諸島に住む唯一な種類にみえるからこそ「ガラパゴス化」と名付けられてしま った。日本市場に大事な影響を与えるガラパゴス化とその例についてのいろいろなウェブ 記事は第二章に調査している。第二章はガラパゴス化の起源やその影響の範囲を調べてみ る。この卒業論では日本市場の大勢部分の各一つを調査するのはやりすぎに違いなくて故、 その間の一つの世界中に有名な部分だけを注目にすることにした。それはデジタル・エン 2 ターテインメンツ、いわば「ビデオゲーム」という部分である。このメディア、コンピュ ーターやゲームコンソルの祖先としてみえる唯一な機器を調査できたスマートなエンジニ アによって1950年代米国に生まれてきた。その一つは「Spacewar!」をつくるために使っ た PDP-1である。第一章の注目はビデオゲームとコンソルの歴史で、多量のジャンルやゲ ームに至るまでの成長についての話である。 ビデオゲームの話はその後スタンドバイにするが、ガラパゴス化の紹介を追ってこ の二つの関係、いわばガラパゴス化はビデオゲーム部分に影響を与えるかどうかというこ とを調査するのは目的になる。そのために、ウェブ記事をもとにしたり、スクエアエニッ クス・ホールディングスや任天という有名な株式会社を注目し、購入者たちにとってはも ちろん年度レポートにとってどちらか好みだとを確かめるつもりで、そのゲーム履歴を調 査しどんな戦略を使って成功・失敗しました理由を説明してみたい。ウェブ記事に載せた 意見は卒業論の著者が広めたアンケートで確かめるつもりです。 3 Introduction Japanese culture is one that lived isolated from the rest of the world until the last two centuries, mainly due to the country being an island but also to measures that were taken especially by the shogun Iemitsu Tokugawa in 1633-1639 and eventually prevented foreigners from entering the island and Japanese people from leaving (this period came to be known as sakoku, “closed country”). For 220 years, until Matthew Perry reached the island in 1853, trades were only allowed with Dutch and Chinese merchants, and in the only Nagasaki port. 21st century Japan is profoundly different – and diverse – from the closed state the Tokugawa created, and the country ranks high amongst the world’s most influential powers. However, remnants of the old sakoku appear to be still exerting their influence on the Japanese market. Undoubtedly, goods from the Far East are everywhere to be found: cars produced by companies like Mitsubishi; electronics manufactured by Sony; gadgets of unique looks and utilities. Behind similar worldwide famous products, or sometimes even within the same categorization, there’s a universe of goods that could only create an audience in their original market. The importance of this phenomenon is such that it has an official recognition among the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) group in Japan; its resemblance to the situation in the Galapagos archipelago, populated by species that only found their suitable habitat in the islands, has gained it the name of Galapagos syndrome, or Garapagosu-ka (ガラパゴス化) as it is stated in a report from the ICT itself. As said, its influence on the Japanese market can be considered relevant, and the phenomenon has been examined and written about in news pieces that are widely accessible today. These will be examined in Chapter 2 of the thesis, together with the most known issues of Galapagos-ka that have been reported as being iconic of the phenomenon; the main focus of the Chapter will be to determine what Galapagos-ka originates from, as well as how it affected the market sectors that will be mentioned. In a diverse market the likes of the Japanese one, there are plenty of areas that could be affected by the phenomenon; of course, examining in more detail every single one would be too great a task 4 to undertake in this work. For this reason, the interest will be focused on a specific sector that gathered itself a great number of followers overseas: the “digital entertainment” business, specifically videogames. This relatively recent media was born in 1950s America due to smart personalities that successfully put hands on peculiar machines (precursors of modern-days computers and consoles), to name one the PDP-1 used to develop Spacewar!. Chapter 1 will focus on the history of this medium, briefly accounting its birth and evolution until the computers and consoles we know; it will also examine how gaming has evolved into a multi-genre and multi-platform media, providing a huge and diverse choice of titles to its users. A short hiatus on the subject to introduce Galapagos-ka will be immediately followed by a study on the main interest of this thesis, namely to ascertain whether there is an influence of the phenomenon on the videogames market. With specific focus on two main Japanese companies for the sector, Square Enix Holdings Co., Ltd. and Nintendo Co., Ltd., we will decide which one is overall considered to be most successful (especially based on sales data and popular opinion) and examine their strategies to determine why is this so. Popular opinions found on web news pieces will be confirmed through surveys diffused by the author to sustain the thesis. 5 CHAPTER 1: The world of gaming Perhaps the true rise of videogames and the carving of their name into history and in the hearts of people can be traced back to the big-sized cabinets that came to be known as simply “cabinets” or arcade games, or also coin-op (short for “coin-operated” machines). These big, colorful cabinets can still be seen in some places: once a coin is inserted, they can usually be played with a stick and a couple of buttons, or else with different input sources